


In a fast, lively tempo

by zarabithia



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Kinks, Multi, Nobody here is vanilla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-04-09
Updated: 2007-04-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 10:46:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14893166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: Months after Iris' death, it's apparent that Barry isn't coping well.  Clark wants to help, and Hal has an idea about how to do so.





	In a fast, lively tempo

Superman was always supposed to have the answer. Dick Grayson had told him that once, and Clark had quickly informed the boy of the falseness of that belief. When confronted with the fact that Superman didn't always have the answers, Robin had looked at him plaintively and argued that he _should._ On the days following Iris Allen's death, Robin's words weighed heavily on Clark's shoulders as he struggled to find a way to console his friend from a loss greater than any Clark had ever known.

They both had deeper friendships, Clark supposed. While Hal was a common companion to them both, Clark was closer to Bruce and Diana and Barry was closer to Ralph, Dinah, and Ollie - even if the latter friendship made absolutely no sense to Clark, considering the differences in the type of men Barry Allen and Oliver Queen were.

Still, Clark looked to his racing buddy as a friend and a teammate. The Scarlet Speedster truly understood how hard it was to try to live at the same pace as everyone else when your gifts wanted to race ahead of them. Barry was one of the few friends Clark had who _could_ understand that - Bruce had other burdens, and Diana didn't understand the need to live as a human, the way Clark and Barry did.

Thus, on the day that Barry lost Iris, Clark wanted nothing more than to reach out to the world's fastest mortal - to ease the pain that he knew his friend was experiencing. But Clark was as powerless to put an end to his friend's suffering as Superman had been to _prevent_ it.

And so, for six months, while Barry wallowed in agony that was obvious to anyone who had ever met him, continually spiraling down and away from the man that Clark knew him to be, Superman remained in a complete loss as how to help his teammate. Better than anyone, Hal understood Clark's frustration and feeling of ineffectiveness where Barry was concerned, and the pillow talk discussions that had once been brief and inconsequential grew into much longer, far more desperate conversations primarily focused on their joint friend.

By the seventh month, Hal’s participation in their conversations all but stopped, and Clark assumed that his lover no longer wanted to dwell on that which he couldn’t change. That remained his assumption until the night that Hal showed up at his apartment with Barry in tow.

Barry was dressed casually, in a pair of jeans and a blue dress shirt that made Clark feel rather foolish for never noticing how strikingly handsome his frequent running mate was before. And it frankly took longer than it should have for Clark to stop noticing _that_ and start noticing the solitary Flash ring on Barry’s hand and the other man's _almost_ relaxed posture.

"Barry, you look well," Clark greeted, shaking the blond’s hand. It was a fairly accurate description; the cheerfulness that had defined his old buddy remained absent, but for the first time in seven months, Barry seemed almost at peace.

Barry offered him a small smile, a wider one than would have been at home on Batman’s face, but one that still managed to be shadowed in pain. "Thanks, Clark. Nice place you have here," Barry responded, gesturing to the muted blues and reds of the apartment living room.

"Thank you." Clark turned expectantly towards Hal, silently wondering why his lover had brought the other man along. Not that Clark minded. Far from it, actually.

Hal met his gaze and smirked in a manner that wouldn’t have seemed brief at all at Barry, Clark noted. "I have a plan, Clark," Hal stated, full of the Green Lantern level of confidence that was swollen enough to more than compensate for Clark’s and Barry’s uncertainty.

It was then, as Hal was swinging an arm around Clark’s shoulders, that Barry blushed the color of the costume he wasn’t wearing. Frowning at Hal, he demanded harshly, "You didn’t _ask_ first?"

Reaching out with the hand that wasn’t resting on Clark’s shoulders, Hal grabbed Barry’s hand in his - an effective, if sneaky method of preventing Barry from running away - and smiled a lazy, self-assured grin at Barry that Clark had come to recognize well during their relationship. "I didn’t need to, Bare," Hal reassured. "Clark’s been worried about you, too. . . and now that you’re ready, I figure between the two of us, we can . . . help you."

Clark understood, then, exactly what Hal’s plan entailed. It wasn’t, after all, the first time Hal had invited someone to join them. He also noted, however, the way Barry’s feet vibrated in place, a sign of nervousness that was so slight Clark wasn’t sure if Hal could see it.

"He’s right, Barry." Pulling Hal along as Clark narrowed the distance between himself and Barry, Clark resisted the urge to reach out and touch the lean muscles the dress shirt accentuated until he was certain Barry was as enthusiastic about being here as Hal was. Or, if that was too much to ask - and given Barry’s emotional state over the past few months, it probably was - then at least _half-way_ as enthusiastic as Hal was. "But only if you’re comfortable with being here." Clark ignored being able to hear Hal’s stifled sigh, one of the perks to having a reputation that included going to extreme lengths to respect others’ privacy. People didn’t tend to believe they were being ignored that way.

"I am," Barry said, confidentially enough for Clark to believe him. Tilting his head towards Hal, Barry added, "But I have to say, Big Blue, I never saw you as the sharing type."

"Hal’s not a big fan of monogamy," Clark said with a shrug, noticing the way Barry’s heel-tapping was slowing down.

"What about you?" Barry asked, and Clark bit down a smile as he ignored yet another stifled sigh from Hal.

"I’m . . . flexible," Clark replied. Both he and Barry decided to ignore the soft chuckle Hal gave in response to Clark‘s answer.

"That’s true," Hal confirmed. "Which brings me back to my plan. . . "

Clark smiled indulgently at his long-time lover before turning back to Barry. With the hand that wasn’t around Hal’s waist, Clark cupped Barry’s face, running his thumb lightly over the speedster’s cheekbones. The fear of breaking Barry even further drove Clark to be twice as careful in his touch as he needed to be.

When Barry mimicked the action, his grip was firm enough to remind Clark that he was far stronger than the majority of his friends had given him credit for lately. "It’s a good plan," Barry remarked, voice light enough that Clark couldn’t tell if it was forcibly so. "As for flexibility. . .I’m sure I can keep up with you, Clark."

Clark was sure of that, too. For the sake of the man who _couldn’t_ keep up with them, however, Clark and Barry allowed Hal to set the pace as the two long-time lovers brought their newest companion into Clark’s bedroom and tried their hardest to get Barry to accept a life of living over one of mourning.

As it turned out, Barry was able to keep up with them in that department, too.


End file.
